Lucifer's Angel
by Teryl79
Summary: The cases always became harder to take when children were involved. And it became almost unbearable when a person was killed and the child was missing.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the idea.

AN: Thanks to **Kristy** for beta reading hugs. And thanks to all who reviewed my first fic and wanted another one... Rated M just to be safe.

Summary: A young woman is killed and her daughter missing. Will Grissom and Sara be able to find her?

* * *

„OUCH" 

Grissom stopped and turned around, looking at an quietly cursing Sara. She held her head with her right hand and looked angry at a branch to her left.

"There are way too many of these here" she mumbled. Grisoom laughed privately.

"Sara, we are in a forest. These branches have to be here. They are part of the trees and..."

"Stop it, Griss, I know it and this is not funny! This is the third time I bumped my head on one." Sara rubbed the lightly reddening point on her forehead.

"You have to be more careful where you carry your head" Grissom replied, smiling broadly.

Sara mumbled something indescribable and followed Grissom. He had turned back around and kept walking, mainly to hide his smile from her.

"So, why did we have to leave the car behind? We easily could have driven a little bit up the road and then walk the last few steps to the house." Sara said, wiping another branch out of her way with one arm.

"And we would have missed all the little things our killer left us here . I'm assuming he took this way and so will we" he replied, looking around at the trees and bushes. When Sara didn't reply he stopped and turned towards her again. She was standing in the middle of the path, staring at him in disbelief.

"It took us ten minutes to get here and it will be at least five more to go to reach the actual crime scene. And to be honest, I haven't seen anything that could help us finding the killer, Griss! So, you're telling me we do this because you GUESS? Why not check out the house first and maybe we find enough evidence in there? Why walk this way up here through the forest with all those trees with branches and bushes and..." She slapped her right arm with her left hand "All the mosquitos around?" She was staring at him, the anger reflecting in her eyes.

"Greg and Warrick are at the house now, checking everything and talking to David. Sara, you know that the surroundings of a crime scene are sometimes even more important than the scene itself. And I wanted to take a little walk through the forest, maybe I can find some beetles. Even if the company isn't really cooperating" winking at her with a small smile on his lips he turned around and began to make his way up the path. Sara rolled her eyes and followed.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hey boss, what took you so long to get here? " Warrick looked up from the ground when he heard Grissom and Sara coming up the stairs to the house.

He looked behind Grissom and laughed. "Sara, you've got something in your hair" he said, grinning broadly.

"Shut up, I know that! What would you look like when you've been walking through that" she turned around and waved her arm into the general direction of the forest before turning back to Warrick. "For nearly fifteen minutes! I killed four mosquitoes, I got hit by seven branches in total and you're telling me that I got leaves in my hair? Boy that's the last thing I worry about right now." With that she turned away, shaking the leaves out of her hair.

"You're about to contaminate the crime scene, Sara. Could you do that a few feets away please?" Grissom said while turning around to face Warrick. "Greg's inside I guess. I'll go and take a look at what he's doing", entering the house through the front door.

"Contaminating" Sara mumbled but got a few steps away from the house. "I walked all this way and all he says is 'You're contaminating the crime scene'" repeating the words a little bit louder, imitating Grissom.

Warrick laughed and just shook his head. "Not your day, is it? Or just not enough coffee?" he winked at her.

"Stop that, I'm tired to death. And no, I didn't have enough coffee this morning" Sara snapped while walking past him and entering the house to begin with her work.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The inside of the house was dark, the last sunbeams of the day couldn't find a way through all the trees and the dirt on the windows. Sara switched on her flash light and observed the room. She could see the footsteps of her colleagues on the dusty floor. Everything in the room was covered in dust, the chairs, the table and the cupboards. She made her way through the room, examining every little detail

At least she tried. She was so tired that her eyes felt like they would fall shut any second. She blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. When the feeling subsided she took another breath and continued her way through the room.

Sara reached the adjacent door and saw David examine a body on the floor. Grissom was looking around the room while Greg listened to David. Sara entered the room and took a look over David's shoulder. The young woman's throat had been intersected, her blood was all over the floor. She appeared to be twenty five years old at the most, had long blond hair and, as David opened one of her eyes, Sara could see the grey green colour of it.

"That looks really bad. What happened?" she asked Greg and the young man sighed heavily.

"She was killed" he simply replyed. Sara raised an eyebrow at him and Greg continued.

"We don't know much right now. Her name is Linda McCullam, she lived in Miami and was here on vacation. We tried to call her husband a few times but didn't get him on the phone. So..." he looked down at the dead body, "her throat was cut with a knife. She bled out. This house belongs to an elderly woman, her name is Elisabeth Joiner. She said she hadn't been here for a few years. We found some fingerprints on the door and on some places in this house but for now we don't know anything."

"I got the husband!" Everyone in the room looked up to the door when Brass entered and waved his cell phone. "And we have a really big problem now. The first thing he asked after I told him about his wife was 'Is my daughter ok?'. Guys, did anyone of you see a little girl? Her name is Lilly, she's five years old and looks like her mother." Greg and David kept staring at Brass, Sara closed her eyes and Grissom took a deep breath.

"I'll go and check out the first floor. Sara, you come with me!" And with that he left the room, Sara directly behind him.

-.-.-.-.-.-

_She lies in a foreign bed in a foreign house. She's afraid. She keeps her eyes shut, too afraid to open them. She wants to be with her mother. But she's not allowed to. She thinks about getting up and going downstairs where her mother is. But she can't. Her mother told her to stay in bed upstairs and she always does what her mother tells her to do. But she's so afraid. She can feel the tears falling down her cheeks. She presses her teddy bear closer. The screaming stopped a few seconds ago. Her mother doesn't scream anymore. She hears the footsteps on the stairs and the door to the bedroom opens. "Hey little angel" the man's voice says. _

-.-.-.-.-.-

Sara reached the last step of the stairway and took one last deep breath. Grissom stood in front of her, his back towards her. Although she can't see his face she can sense his uneasiness, his tautness. The cases always became harder to take when children were involved. And it becomes almost unbearable when a person was killed and the child was missing.

Grissom made a few steps into the direction of the first door to their right. He carefully opened the door and stepped inside the room. After a few seconds he came out again, shaking his head. Sara went to the door on the left side and opened it.

Just like the first floor of the house the room was covered in dust, matching the statement of the house owner, that she hadn't been here in years. But dust was all Sara could find in this room. She came back out of it shaking her head, just like Grissom had done before.

As he opened the third door on his side Grissom saw the bed with the blanket and the pillow.

"Sara!" he shouted. Sara was in the room within seconds. Both looked around, searching everywhere for the little girl. Sara searched the closets and Grissom bend down to look under the bed. When he stood up again he was holding a teddy bear in one hand, looking from it to Sara.

They checked out the other rooms on the floor, before returning to the room Lilly had been in.

"No little girl would leave her teddy bear behind." Sara said. Grissom just nodded. "Not, if she left voluntarily."

* * *

**TBC**

Hope you like this fic so far, wanted to do something different this time.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the idea.

AN: Thanks to **Kristy** and **Chaotic4Life**for beta reading _hugs_.Rated M just to be safe.

Summary: A young woman is killed and her daughter missing. Will Grissom and Sara be able to find her?

* * *

Both went back downstairs in silence, staring at the teddy bear in Grissom's hand. As soon as they entered the room the conversation between the three men stopped, staring at Grissom and Sara, then the teddy bear and back at both CSI's. 

Sara took a deep breath. "I'll go and find Warrick. He needs to know, too." Grissom just nodded while Sara left.

Grissom looked at the three men standing in front of him. swallowing hard he started to speak. "We need every shred of evidence. Even the smallest pieces. I know, you do your work great at any time, but in this case we have no time missing even one little thing. Greg, you will finish here", he turned towards Warrick entering the room; Sara directly behind him.

"Warrick, you'll continue with your work outside. Turn over every little stone. David, get the body back to the lab and tell Doc Robbins I need the results as soon as possible. Sara, you and I will process the rooms upstairs." Everyone just nodded and started their assigned tasks.

-.-.-.-.-.-

_She's crying. She misses Muffin. She has never left Muffin behind in her life. She loves the teddy bear more than anything else in her life. Besides her parents. Her parents. 'Where are they' she wonders. 'Where is my Mommy?'. She has been more than happy when her Mommy told her that they were going on vacation. She had wanted her Daddy to come with them, but he needed to stay at home and work. So she came here only with her Mommy. And now her Mommy was gone. She cowers in the back of the strange car and is afraid. She doesn't know the man who has taken her out of the bedroom and who won't tell her where her Mommy is now. The man doesn't talk to her. Or he just tells her to shut up. She wants to ask so many questions but she doesn't have the heart to do so. She's just a little girl. And she's all alone now._

-.-.-.-.-.-

They had worked all night, mostly in silence, fast and concentrated. It had been hard to focus on the work, their thoughts always drifting away to the little girl. Now they were back at the lab, processing the evidence they had collected earlier that day. Unfortunately not much was found, just a few smeared fingerprints and some blood drops.

Greg processed the blood they found,. but unfortunately, like all of them suspected , it belonged to Linda McCullam.

Warrick checked out some branches, leaves and stones, still hoping that he had missed something at the scene.

Sara ran the fingerprints she could discover through AFIS, but they came up without result.

After a short time in the lab they all met in Grissoms office to discuss their findings. "Ok guys, what do we have?", Grissom started, looking from Greg to Warrick, then to Sara and back to Greg. Greg cleared his throat. "Well, as I expected, all the blood we found is from the victim. Not a trace of second DNA. But, this is also a good sign in my opinion." At Grissoms questioning look he continued. "Well, if there's only blood from the victim we can be sure whoever did this, didn't harm Lilly."

"At least the murderer didn't kill her the same way he killed her mother", Sara added with slight frustration in her voice. Grissom raised an eyebrow at her comment then looked at Warrick. "Did you find anything on the branches or stones?"

Warrick shook his head, the same frustration heard before in Sara's voice now reflected in his eyes. Grissom stared at the younger man in front of him a few more seconds then moved his gaze to Sara.

"Let me guess, the only useful prints came back with no result." He asked her, his voice getting softer. Sara chewed her lower lip, meeting his gaze. "I called the husband again and ask him to give us something we can compare the prints with. So that we can be sure they are hers."

After a short break she added "Griss, that's ridiculous. A woman has been murdered, her little daughter is missing and whoever did this didn't leave anything behind? We must have missed something!" the frustration and anger in her voice becoming stronger with every word.

"I talked to Doc Robbins when we returned" Grissom started to reply. "He hasn't finished the autospy yet, but he was able to give me some details. Linda McCullam diedof bloodloss. She wasn't dead the moment her throat was slashed, she lived for about two or three more minutes. The police received the call to report her murder three hours after she died. It came from a phone booth at a petrol station nearly 250 miles away from where Linda McCullam was killed. Brass is on his way to talk to the owner"

"So the murderer wanted to be sure that he's far enough away. But why did he call? It would have been much easier to just get away from the crime scene and drive on. No one would have found her until her husband would have reported her missing." Sara furrowed her brow.

"Maybe he is absolutely convinced that he didn't leave anything behind. That we can never find him. Maybe it's a game for him." Greg added somewhat shyly.

"And this exactly makes it even more complicated. If it's just a game he is uninhibited. He won't mind killing more people if he needs to. And it gets more dangerous for the little girl. I'm sure he will keep her as long as he needs her. But we don't know how long that will be." Sara's last words were merely whispered. Grissom threw a questioning look at her.

Warrick's pager started to vibrate and he looked at it. "I need to get this call guys, I'll be back in a minute." "When you're done go through the evidence again, there needs to be something." Grissom assigned. "Greg, go and see Doc Robbins, he should have finished the autopsy by now. If he can't tell you something new, redo the autopsy. And again, if necessary." Greg nodded and made his way out of Grissom's office. When he reached the door Grissom called after him "And shut the door please:" Sara looked at him questioningly but remained silent.

Grissom leaned back in his chair and tipped his chin with his left index finger. Sara started to shift after a few seconds, nervous about being alone with Grissom when he was in a mood like this. Not talking at all, just sitting there and staring at her. Finally he leaned forward, his forearms rested on his desk, his fingers folded. He shifted his gaze from Sara to his hands. "You're ok?" he asked in a soft voice.

Sara blinked a few times. "Uhm... Sure I am. I guess I am. How do you feel?" she asked irate in return.

Grissom shrugged his shoulders. "It's always hard when children are involved. But this is our job and we can't allow any feelings in it. No mourning, no anger, no… frustration" he added ,looking up into her eyes at the last word.

"I know that, believe me, I do. But it's not as easy as you want it to be, Griss. I know what you're about to say. But I'm not like you. I can't switch my feelings on and off. My feelings often help me to stay focused, to do the one step that is necessary to solve a crime."

"I know that, Sara. I just want you to remind yourself that this is not different from any other cases we have. Just stay focused and do whatever is needed to get the killer. I know..." he stopped her reply with a move of his left hand, "... that you do this in all of your cases. But you seemed more affected by this case." He saw the anger rising up in her eyes.

"So you're trying to tell me to feel nothing and just work this case. Fine. If you can do that, I can't. A woman was murdered and her young daughter is missing. And if we're right and this is just a game for the killer, I for one can not stay relaxed. This little girl depends on us to survive. And believe me, if we find the killer and Lilly is not still alive, I will haunt this guy even if it takes ages."

She rose up from her chair and stormed out of his office. Grissom stared after her and sighed heavily. He had never seen Sara behaving like this. Sure she was affected by some crimes, especially cases where women were raped or which contains domestic violence. But he had never seen her that affected in a case with a child. He leaned back in his chair and thought for a few more moments then decided that he would talk to her again later and started looking through the files on his desk.

-.-.-.-.-.-

_She looks up when the car comes to an abrupt halt. She lifts her head and looks out of the window. She can see other cars bu t there are no people. She turns her head when she hears the car door open. The man turns around. 'You stay here and keep your sweet little mouth shut my angel' he tells her. She nods. She's too afraid to say something. When the man leaves the car and slams the door shut she starts crying again._


End file.
